Cycling and social cohesion
Since returning from Italy I've been settling back into Amsterdam, thinking a lot about what I saw and heard in Pistoia. My morning runs in the Vondelpark bring me close to many children and parents as they go to school on their bikes. I'm been struck by how much traveling by bike puts everyone in contact-- with their surroundings, and with each other. Couples or friends ride together to work or school. Parents take their kids to school, sometimes in what appear to be neighborhood groups. Mothers ride along with one, two, or even three kids in the "bakfiets," talking with each other. The children listen to their parents talking, or they just look around, or talk with each other. They observe all these people from the city, walking or riding their bikes. Quite different than being encased inside autos. Traveling this way is just another way to be connected with others and with the immediate surroundings. Cycling as a form of social cohesion?
Since returning from Italy I've been settling back into Amsterdam, thinking a lot about what I saw and heard in Pistoia. My morning runs in the Vondelpark bring me close to many children and parents as they go to school on their bikes. I'm been struck by how much traveling by bike puts everyone in contact-- with their surroundings, and with each other. Couples or friends ride together to work or school. Parents take their kids to school, sometimes in what appear to be neighborhood groups. Mothers ride along with one, two, or even three kids in the "bakfiets," talking with each other. The children listen to their parents talking, or they just look around, or talk with each other. They observe all these people from the city, walking or riding their bikes. Quite different than being encased inside autos. Traveling this way is just another way to be connected with others and with the immediate surroundings. Cycling as a form of social cohesion? 
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